Take Away English-Blue Monday 压抑的星期一
时间：2019-01-02 作者：英语课 分类：Take Away English
It's all too much
Psychologists in Britain have said that the last full week of January is the most depressing time of year, and labelled next Monday ‘Blue Monday’. Blue is a slang way of saying unhappy.
Mondays are generally seen as the worst day of the week because people feel grumpy and tired at having to go back to work after a weekend with a different sleep pattern.
There are various reasons why more people feel depressed at this time of year. Many people have unpaid 2 credit card bills for the Christmas presents they bought, and pay day is often not until the end of the month.
As the party season is over, people feel stressed because they have to go back to real life – work and commuting 3; and they may be unhappy with their body image after bingeing on booze, chocolates, and other food at Christmas-time.
People may have already failed in their New Year’s resolutions, such as giving up smoking.The bad weather in January can also contribute to people feeling fed up.
Some companies are taking this quite seriously and offering counselling for any staff who are feeling depressed. They hope that helping 4 people as soon as there are signs of depression will avoid absenteeism. Evidence shows that unreasonable 5 managers who contribute to their staff feeling fed up at this time can expect an uncooperative workforce 6.
However, it’s not all bad! Many people feel optimistic at this time, that things can only get better. Psychologists offer suggestions of how to combat feeling blue. These include spending 15 minutes doing a 'gratitude 7 exercise' thinking about and writing down what you are grateful for, such as health, family, friends and so on.
Taking up a new hobby, doing some exercise, going to bed earlier, eating a healthy breakfast, and listening to some uplifting music, are all recommended as ways to feel more cheerful.
To avoid feeling blue next January, experts say that the best thing to do is to plan better next December. Spend less on presents, eat and drink less over the festive 8 period, and make more realistic New Year’s resolutions.
GLOSSARY 词汇表
depressing
令人压抑的
sleep pattern
睡眠习惯
stressed
有压力的
body image
体形
resolutions
决心
fed up
厌倦
absenteeism
缺勤/旷工
optimistic
乐观的
gratitude
感激
the festive period
节庆季节
labelled
标为
pay day
发薪日
commuting
（乘公共交通）上下班
bingeing
大吃大喝
giving up
放弃
counselling
咨询
uncooperative
不合作的
to combat
对付/应对
uplifting
（令人）振奋的
realistic
现实的
- When he was depressed,he felt utterly divorced from reality.他心情沮丧时就感到完全脱离了现实。
- His mother was depressed by the sad news.这个坏消息使他的母亲意志消沉。
- Doctors work excessive unpaid overtime.医生过度加班却无报酬。
- He's doing a month's unpaid work experience with an engineering firm.他正在一家工程公司无偿工作一个月以获得工作经验。
- I used the commuting time to read and answer my mail. 我利用上下班在汽车中的时间来阅读和答复给我的函电。
- Noncommuting objects are as real to the mathematicians as commuting objects. 对于数学家来说，不可交换的对象与可交换的对象是一样真实的。
- The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
- By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。
- I know that they made the most unreasonable demands on you.我知道他们对你提出了最不合理的要求。
- They spend an unreasonable amount of money on clothes.他们花在衣服上的钱太多了。
- A large part of the workforce is employed in agriculture.劳动人口中一大部分受雇于农业。
- A quarter of the local workforce is unemployed.本地劳动力中有四分之一失业。
- I have expressed the depth of my gratitude to him.我向他表示了深切的谢意。
- She could not help her tears of gratitude rolling down her face.她感激的泪珠禁不住沿着面颊流了下来。